


I'm Not A Hero

by LoverOfNothing



Category: Black Panther (2018), Black Panther (Comics), Captain America (Movies), Marvel (Comics), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst, Drama, Ex girlfriend problems, F/M, Fluff, Romance, Romantic Soulmates, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates, Swearing, Trust Issues
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-12
Updated: 2018-03-13
Packaged: 2019-03-30 12:48:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,017
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13951884
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LoverOfNothing/pseuds/LoverOfNothing
Summary: In Nora Riley's family there is a necklace that has been passed down from woman to woman for generations, it first being obtained by one of her great grandfathers when he was a part of the slave trade. Her father claimed it was cursed as whenever the owner died they would always suddenly go in their sleep, it could be at any age, at any time but the deaths were always slightly unusual.When she was just 6 this necklace was given to her and it was at that moment her Soulmate mark appeared, a long sentence that wrapped around her right thigh. However she also began to develop strange 'powers' because of the necklace, but there was also a strange connection she felt to it and thus refused to ever get rid of it, despite her fathers insistence.So at 23 when an old friend of hers, Sam calls her up asking for a favour she decides why the hell not? She's not the kind of girl to put her life on hold to wait for her soulmate and she's in desperate need of an adventure.





	1. I Need A Favour...

**Author's Note:**

> 1) This is a soulmate Au, but it will fit into the Marvel Cinematic Universe timeline. The way soul marks work in this fic is you have the first sentence your soulmate will speak to you, but this isn't the sort of story where soulmates fall in love instantly, the marks more help them find each other and then they have to work at the rest.  
> 2) I have no clue how old T'challa is in the films so i'm saying he's 25 and his sister is 18, thought I know she's a bit younger, it works better if she's older.  
> 3) My character has the Soul infinity stone because it's a more interesting character trait that having her be a normal civilian, related to another character of just a shield agent. So I am going to try and keep the powers as fitting with the comics description of them as I can but I may add a few of my own depending on how this story goes.  
> 4) It begins in Civil War mainly because I don't have the Black Panther film to refer to yet and it will give me time to build the relationship between T'challa and Nora at a more realistic pace.

Nora was having an awful day.

No, in fact she was having an awful week. Everything that could have possibly gone wrong had. She'd not gotten the promotion she deserved at work, instead it was the guy who was two years her junior, had never met a deadline and who, according to her friend Lilith, was sleeping with the head of their department. Then the engine on her car had finally given up, and the mechanic had confessed it would be cheaper for her to buy a new car than repair her current one. And the cherry on the shit cake was that just an hour ago she walked into her boyfriends apartment for a date and ended up walking in on him and his secretary at it on the living room floor. 

And thus she ended up wrapped in a mountain of blankets and pillows on her sofa, her leftover pizza on the coffee table, a large tub on Ben and Jerry's ice cream in her hands and Dirty Dancing playing on her TV. She was officially at rock bottom and she was struggling to see how things could get better. She was 23 and had already reached her mid-life crisis. And unlike other people when they reach such a stage she isn't, and has never been married and has no children! Not even a pet!

Patrick Swayze began to make love to Jennifer Grey and she moved the covers so she could see her soul mark which was uncovered by her lounging shorts. 

She didn't need to look at it to know what it said, she had memorized it when she was a naïve thirteen year old who believed that finding her soulmate would be the answer to anything wrong in her life. At 17 this idea changed when she began realising how many people had happy fulfilled lived without their other half, and she realised she didn't care if she met that person or not. 

But whenever she was low it was her natural reaction to wish for the good that she hoped would come from the person who's words were imprinted onto her skin. _'You have a beautiful necklace, and wonderful powers.'_ It always confused her a bit, only a handful of people knew about what her necklace allowed her to do, very few knew the truth about her necklace! So she had always been so cautious about how she explained those sorts of things to anybody she trusted, therefore she trusted very few people in her life.

She put that problem down to her father though, her mother had died when she was just six from stage 4 lung cancer. So her passing wasn't a shock or unexpected, but she had passed peacefully in her sleep when the doctors were confident she would have months left. Her father confessed how her necklace had somehow become unlatched too on the same night after she passed, and warned her that the necklace would claim her life when he gave it to her. This caused their relationship to be a bit tense at times, but they tried to keep each other as close as they could. But as much as she loved him she refused to ask for his help with anything unless it was a last resort.

Other than him there weren't many people she let into her life. Her best friend since high school Lilith, they had met on the first day of freshman year when their lockers were next to each other and had been like sisters every since. They had gone to the same college and both gone into careers at the Smithsonian museums, Nora in the natural history branch, African specifically and Lilith in the World War 2 section, and she was now executively in charge of the Captain America display. Then there was the guy who used to live in the apartment next to hers, who had become a very close friend, Sam. He'd moved out a year ago into somewhere bigger, but they used to meet up a lot and bond over very random interests. He was an unexpected addition to her life and he helped her cope when her powers began to overwhelm her, his experience with PTSD being a very big help there. But she hasn't seen him much since he became an Avenger and he had moved to New York. Then there was Lauren and Nathan, her and Lilith had roomed with Lauren and they had all met Nathan at a frat party their first week of college. They had all gotten along and fallen into an easy friendship and soon Nathan had convinced Nora to go on a date and they got together, which caused a great deal of tension with Lauren. And it was in their second year when her attitude was putting a real strain on her friends relationship did Nora use her powers to figure out what her issue was, but she did it during an argument between them with Nathan and Lilith playing referee's. Turns out Lauren liked Nathan, so Nora decided to end it and was the first person to congratulate them when they had gotten engaged just two weeks ago.

The thing is, despite how much she told others she wasn't affected by finding her soulmate, she craved to do so more than anything. She knew she could be happy without her soulmate, her father had proven so by marrying her step-mother as had Nathan and Lauren by getting engaged and planning their future together. Didn't stop her from wanting them though, it had always been a secret hope of hers and for some reason she couldn't ignore that desire no matter how much she tried.

She then stood up and gathered up her rubbish, deciding she would rather be productive than continue to wallow in her own self-pity. (She could do that tomorrow on her day off instead.) So she wandered into her small kitchen and got rid of the rubbish, and began doing the dishes. Once they were done her film suddenly turned over and a news report flashed on. There had been a mass incident in Lagos to do with the avengers and her attention focused in, knowing Sam was likely involved and her fear suddenly spiked, her abandonment issues rearing their numerous heads.

She took a deep breath when she realised sadly it was only the innocent members of the public who were killed, as well as the targets for the mission. Her heart felt saddened at the news, her mind wandering to those who had been killed and began to wander about the kinds of lives they were leaving behind and willing them on to a better place. She felt the gem of her necklace warming up slightly, as it always did when she had these thoughts or used her powers, she had learnt to ignore it by now, as if it was something that happened to everybody.

She watched until the end of the report and then continued her tidying up, she needed a distraction. But her mind still wandered, Sam had asked her if she would consider being an avenger because of the powers she had, that her necklace gave her. She had been stumped at the question, she knew some things that her necklace enabled her to do, but that was only because in a dream her mother had come to her and explained more about the purple gem and what is would allow her to do. She had said no at the time, still being wary of putting herself out there for the world to see and honestly she had never been a fighter and was so afraid of becoming a coward when placed in such an intense situation. 

So she had politely refused but told him that should he ever have nowhere else to turn or just need support from a friend that she would be there for him too.

The obnoxious sound of the American national anthem blasted our from her phone and made Nora come running from her bathroom, toothbrush hanging out of her mouth and hair in a state as she recognised the music.

She grabbed the phone ran into the kitchen and spat her toothpaste into the bin... that wasn't the plan but at least she could talk now.

"Sam, are you okay?" She grabbed a dishtowel and wiped around her mouth before continuing. "I saw the news and what happened, they said none of you were hurt. Tell me that's true, just tell me you're not dying and this is some pathetic goodbye phone call where you confess you've actually been in love with me since the day we met." She rambled, falling back on her humour as she always did when in a panic or uncomfortable. Not the best habit but much better than if she got angry or silent as some people did.

He gave a quiet chuckle, not being able to stop himself at her untimely comedic moment. "I'm okay, and you and I both know it's you that's been in love with me since that first meeting, get your facts right Riley." They shared a weak laugh. "No this is about me needing your help actually."

"Seriously? You're an avenger and you need my help?" She knew she sounded stupid repeating him but she wanted to be clear.

He laughed again, though this time she was sure it was at her. "Yeah the whole team does."

"And what can I do for you guys? You know I'm still a lover and can't throw a punch."

"Oh I know, and don't worry I'll get you to master a right hook one of these days." He took a deep breath. "I actually need your powers to help with our latest problems from Lagos."

"Okay, what exactly do I need to do?"

"The government is getting real antsy, gonna be here in a few days to talk to us according to Tony. They're worried about Wanda's powers and all of us, apparently we need to be better controlled." She nodded, not that he could see her, he was talking complete sense but she wasn't sure where she came in. "I want you to show them you're a functioning member of society without any kind of boundaries or limits. Also you're so good at just understanding people, I want to see if you can help somebody if I can find him."

She let out a loud breath. This was getting pretty serious, by revealing her powers she could put herself in a position to become a prisoner to the government or at least subject to their interrogations and possibly experimentations which was the last thing she wanted. And the whole last part sounded suspicious, she knew Sam had been looking for some assassin guy a while back but she figured once he became an avenger that wasn't a problem anymore or they'd already found the guy. But now because of her power that allowed her to see into people's souls and she was understanding they expected her to help a guy with that many issues? She really wasn't the person for such a job.

"Sam, do you understand the risk I run in showing them who I am? And when you say this guy you wanna find, is it that assassin you were looking for?" She asked in a quiet voice.

"I'm not gonna lie it's a risk, but you could help us please you don't even have to say anything until after the meeting. But I'd like for you to be there just in case we need you and yeah it is but there's not a better person to help us approach him. He's a good person but none of us know how to help." There was a tone of despair in his voice, like he was lost and didn't know what to do next.

"Okay, look I'll fly out to New York tomorrow morning, make sure you pick me up and I guess we'll just go from there. I've got some holiday time saved up so I can be available to you for about 2 weeks." She said moving to look at her wall calendar, she wouldn't miss anything special in the time she was gone and she needed to be away from her life right now.

"Yeah that's fine, you let me know the time and I'll be there. Thanks for this Nora, I know it's not something I should be asking but-"

"Hey it's fine. In times like these if the government is getting that worried then people like us need to stick together." She told him in a serious tone, they couldn't afford to be divided when there were so few of them in the first place.


	2. Civilian...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all the comments and support after just one day, any kind of comments is always helpful in knowing that this is a good story and how my characters read too. Feel free to ask any questions too or point out any mistakes may make, I try my best not to but sometimes they happen anyway.  
> Let me know if having her help them with the accords works or not, i'm more going for the idea that the government is interested in civilian opinions and that she could possibly help with Bucky. The next chapter will focus more on her revealing the truth of having powers and not being a hero, she's meant to be a voice of reason within the group seeing as Banner isn't there to be that.  
> I'm not planning to change how I've inserted her into Civil War, but let me know if it's not very good as i may be able to tweak it a bit.

Flying was normally an experience that Nora enjoyed. She had always had a fascination with being able to fly as a child and wanted to go on an aeroplane everywhere because then she would always fly. She enjoyed the strange feeling of your stomach being all over the place in the landing and taking off. And then there was just the simple pleasure of watching the clouds pass by, especially in rainy or stormy weather, it really got her adrenaline going for some strange reason.

But when the plan finally landed in New York she was at her wits end. Of course she had booked the flight last minute and took the first available seat that she could afford, which turned out to be in the lowest class right in the middle of a flight that left at 5:30 AM. But all of those things she could deal with, she was only a year out of college so she was used to functioning on little sleep. And she had wasn't claustrophobic or a nervous flier so where she sat wasn't the issue. It turns it that it was the people around her that made her begin to regret agreeing to help her friend. 

She normally had okay people skills, she had enough patience to deal with tem for as long as needed and then just walk away. Every person as a limit though and on that flight she had been seconds away from reaching hers.

There had been two men sat to her left and a mother and her young child to her right, and when she sat down that didn't seem to be an issue. She had hoped the men would just talk amongst themselves and the mother would keep the child entertained with a few films and she could sleep for the majority of the flight. No that was too much for her to hope for. Instead both men had taken turns in using cheesy pick up lines in an attempt to get her attention and after an hour of her just giving them annoyed looks they changed their tactics. They would swap seats every half an hour and just whisper things to her, some were just standard and others became much more vulgar and she had threatened them several times, the warmth from her necklace giving her the peace of mind to know she could make good on her threats. And in the times the men were taking a break and ordering drinks the little boy to her right was having another tantrum about something. He didn't like the food, he was bored, he wanted to walk around, the woman next to him was annoying him. His mother as well didn't seem to care at all, just shushing him as she continued to read some trashy romance novel. 

Of course that meant she hadn't had the chance to sleep at all and had been awake for over 24 hours. So once the men were out of her way she grabbed her carry on and rushed off the plane, running to baggage claim and wanting to cry when she spotted her suitcase was the first to come around. 

With her carry on slung over her shoulder and her suitcase rolling behind her she walked towards the exit, keeping an eye out for her fiend as she went. She hoped he wouldn't try an be funny by holding up some sort of stupid sign, she didn't think she had enough energy to even pretend to find him funny in that moment. 

So when she stepped out of the front entrance and saw a Ferrari parked there with Sam stood in just jeans and a t-shirt as he leant against the side of it she began to realise what she had agreed to. She took a deep breath and gave him a light kick to the shin when she stopped in front of him, noticing his attention was one two women who were just passing by him, both giving him what she assumed was meant to be flirty smiles. Looked more like they were both constipated to her, but who was she to judge what her friend found attractive?

 He winced and glared until he realised it was her. "Was there any need for that? We haven't been in the same place in a year and you decide kicking, and most likely bruising, my shin was an acceptable 'hello'?" He raises his eyebrows at her and she just gives him a deadpan stare in return. "Okay, so you're people skills are clearly lacking and i know you probably didn't have a good flight."

"Sometimes i wonder how you were ever in the army, like aren't soldiers supposed to have brains?" Nora admitted as he took her suitcase and placed it in the trunk, her following suit with her carry on. 

He slammed the trunk shut and pushed her slightly as they both made their way into the car. "You know I'm gonna let you have that one, since I'm an amazing friend. But in all seriousness," And there it was, straight to business. "when we get to the compound I'll introduce you to everybody and we'll see if you can help. You should sleep now though, it'll be about an hour drive and as cute as you are those bags under your eyes make you look forty."

She scoffed as she kicked her converse off and turned the radio on. "Shut up, your bird costume makes you look like a fool anyway. Now let me sleep please, and if you leave me to sleep i promise to entertain you with the story of my awful flight when I've re-joined the land of the living."

Sam chuckles and tells her to sleep, taking care to keep himself relaxed until he hears her deep breathing and how she's no longer fidgeting. It's then he looks her over and he knows she's exhausted, it was almost midnight when he called her and her flight was early too and he doubted her worry would have let her sleep whilst at home. He still wasn't sure how much help she would be in terms of what the government wanted to do to them now and he only hoped she would be able to help Barnes, should they ever find him.

Of course he had seen her powers in action a few times, and knew about the trick of her being able to see the truth into people's souls to an extent and knew that would help her and possibly the others to understand where Barnes true personality was at. Then it was just trying to help figure out how to keep him from reverting back to being an assassin. Honestly he wasn't sure if Nora would be any help there or not, she didn't have any kind of qualifications with that sort of thing but he had seen her deal with all kind of people and just have a way of understanding and talking to them no matter what they had been through. He was counting on that to help Barnes, hell she was the only person they had who could handle themselves should something happen and that they trusted. Sort of.

Sam trusted her with his life, she was almost like a sister to him even though they'd only been friends for three years. They just got along from the beginning and were able to help each other. Steve and Tony hadn't really gone for the idea, neither one feeling bringing in a civilian was the best way to handle what was going on. It had taken a lot for them to finally agree, he had to mention she had powers which is what finally did the trick.

So he wasn't surprised to see Tony and Steve both waiting in the garage when he pulled in, and he just gave a shake of his head. So much for not overwhelming Nora.

He nudged her but she didn't move, man he really didn't want to wake her knowing how exhausted she was. He tried again and she just grunted, and he couldn't resist rolling his eyes at her behaviour, she was so unladylike most of the time, he hoped her soulmate wasn't expecting a stay at home wife. 

"Come on sleeping beauty, time to meet some people." He told her as he gave her head a push and she groaned louder than before. 

She opened her eyes a crack and glared at the man beside her. "I'm not in the mood for socialising, can they hold for another six to eight hours?" He voice was scratchy but she sounded serious, in the same way children were when making outrageous statements that they wholeheartedly believed in.

A laugh came from her friend, quite a loud one which made her sigh, so much for going back to sleep. "No, we don't have much time so come on, time to impress."

Nora snorted before laughing loudly as she pulled off her seatbelt and stretched out her body. "Come on Sam, we both know i always impress."

They both got out and she failed to notice the two heroes stood in front of the vehicle as she grabbed her carry on from the trunk and muttered something about macho men getting in her way when Sam grabbed her suitcase. She wanted to tell him to give it to her, she was a strong independent- actually in that moment she was too tired to be all those good things women are in the 21st century. Plus her suitcase was heavy and she didn't want to run the risk of tripping over in front of the avengers. She wasn't really known for making the best first impressions but falling over would really be one of her worst.

When she followed her friend around to the door she gave an awkward smile when she spotted Captain America and Iron man watching her. The blonde man held a friendly smile whilst the darker haired one had a look of exhaustion on his, as if the world had just royally screwed him over. She wasn't stupid though, she understood there were risks to having her there, the biggest one being that she wouldn't be of any help at all.

"Guys this is Nora Riley. You'll have to excuse her, she normally looks better than this." He gave a yelp when he felt a sharp elbow dig into his ribs.

Nora didn't even look ashamed of what she had done and just gave a sarcastic grin to her friend. "Please, i look better like this than you do on your best days. And just remember I've seen you drunk Sam." 

The taller man understood the threat, and if Nora wanted to play dirty then that was just fine with him. "Okay, then just remember all that happened on new year."

Nora's mouth fell open and she gaped at him like a fish out of water before laughing. "Okay i concede, I'll keep the storied to myself if you promise to do the same." She finished as they fist bumped and returned their attention to the pair opposite them.

Steve was looking more amused now, glad to see that Sam wasn't lying when he explained how much trust he had in Nora and how he really thought she would be able to help. Tony on the other hand wanted to just go back to bed, whilst Wilson was a good guy he knew how to be annoying so the engineer wasn't thrilled at the idea of having another person just as annoying as him wasn't an idea that filled him with joy. He had enough problems without a civilian as annoying as Wilson hanging around getting in the way of everybody.

"So nice to see you found somebody to laugh at your jokes Wilson." Tony says with a quick grin before turning to head into the main building. "Hurry up, we're all talking about the accords, guess we could use a civilians point of view." And with that he was gone.

"It's nice to meet you Nora, I'm Steve." He explain as they shook hands and followed where the billionaire had disappeared off to. "Sorry about all of this, we're grateful that you're willing to help us. And Tony's right, we could use your opinion on the information we've just been given."

Nora nodded slowly. "Okay, you guys do realise i did my degree in history right? Like politics and all this hero stuff is all new to me." She told him honestly, hoping he would understand that she was feeling a little lost in how to help.

"That's understandable, honestly none of us really know what we're doing." Her eyes widened at that, how could they not know? They were meant to be heroes and all that crap! "But we just do our best and hope that's enough."

"And you think my best is enough? That it will help at all?"

Sam nudged her then, giving her a stern look to which she looked down at her feet. She hated that look with a passion. "Stop that, if i believed you were useless i wouldn't have asked for your help. And yeah you're going to help, the suits want to know what the public think of this and think of this as a consulting job."

She couldn't hold back her snort, trying her hardest to ignore the raise eyebrow from the star spangled man to her left. "A consultant for the avengers? You sure you guys want a civilian's help?"

Steve chuckled and nodded as he lead her into what appeared to be a sort of common room, a small kitchen area and comfy sofas dominating the space. One side of the room was all windows and let in an amazing amount of light that seemed to make the whole room a bit bigger. There was a large glass table and numerous dinning chairs around it, yeah she had a feeling this had all been funded by Stark, at least if the expensive kitchen appliances and the imported leather sofas were any indicators. She didn't feel like she belonged, but she supposed Sam was the same. Or at least he was when he first arrived, now she watched as he dumped her case down and began making himself a coffee. She hoped he would have the sense to make her one too!

"Everybody," Tony began, drawing the attention of the group of extraordinary people in the room to him. "This is Nora Riley, she's a close friend of Wilson's and should be able to provide some insight into this new contract. Apparently she's enhanced so she's like us." He finished, pulling the glasses off his face an jerking the knot of his tie until it loosened a little. 

They all turned to face the newcomer who was still looking around the room in shock, not really paying them any mind. It wasn't until she noticed the quiet that Nora glanced at the other people in the room and was almost star struck, almost. Of course meeting all of these heroes would cause most civilians to have an aneurism, but nope what really drew her attention was the presence of the red man. Most specifically the yellow gem that appeared to be embedded in the centre of his forehead, her own purple one warming slightly once she saw it. This had never happened before, the heat only came when she was doing something relating to her powers, which must mean there was a connection between the two of them. It was that or she was finally losing it and feeling things.

Either one would be perfectly logical in her mind.

"Hi, nice to meet you all." She said before looking to Sam for support, instead he just handed her a cup of coffee. At least that gave her an excuse to put down her bag and do something with her hands. "I'm usually much more entertaining than this but I'm running on just an hours sleep." Better to be truthful, though the way Sam was shaking his head at the floor lead her to believe she may have said something wrong.

After a few more moments of silence the introductions and handshakes began. It was all strangely normal, at least until Vision, the red dude, came towards her.

"Hello Miss Riley, i believe we are both having similar thoughts right now." The sentence threw her off and her left hand moved from cradling her mug to touch her necklace that was hidden beneath her t-shirt. "Yes, the gem in my head is reacting to the one on your necklace. I am unsure why, as i do not know exactly what either of them are. But i think we would benefit from sharing what we know about them." He said gesturing to his forehead at the end as Nora continued to grip onto her necklace.

She then let out a breath. "Guess so, seeing as this damn thing is pretty much a part of me now, the same as yours is." Her voice sounded dreamy, as if she couldn't believe what was happening. "Why do i get the feeling this means I'm no longer just a civilian?"


End file.
